GRICIGNANO DI AVERSA, Italy (AP) — The football field immediately strikes the eye for visitors driving on an overpass approaching the U.S. Navy Support Site outside of Naples.
An American football field in the middle of southern Italy.
Turn past the pothole-filled local streets, get through the security gate, and the unkempt Italian roads are replaced by perfectly paved thoroughfares. Home to more than 500 families, the Navy base is where Heisman Trophy candidate Ashton Jeanty learned to play football.
Now a junior running back for 15th-ranked Boise State and a unanimous selection on The Associated Press midseason All-America team, Jeanty’s talents were first spotted by Naples High School football coach Jim Davis when he was in seventh grade.
Not on the football field, though. That’s because tackle football wasn’t an option for middle schoolers.
It was on the basketball court during middle school lunch.
“He’s going up for a layup and he’s getting so much height I’m thinking this kid’s about to dunk the ball,” said Davis, who also teaches physical education at the school. “As a seventh grader, you can imagine how short he is. He’s 5-9, 5-10 now. So he was probably closer to 5-4 or 5-5. And it’s like, ‘Wow, look at the power this kid has at such a young age.’”
Davis had to wait two years to unleash that power in his team when Jeanty was a high school freshman in 2018.
And it wasn’t until the coach moved Jeanty from quarterback two games into the season that he really began to take off.
“I realized he needed to be the running back. I could get anybody to hand off the ball to him,” Davis told the AP during an interview at the military base this week.
In the remaining four games of Naples’ season, Jeanty ran for over 1,200 yards on fewer than 100 carries and scored 17 touchdowns.
“I’d be lying to you if I told you that (I thought) he would be a Heisman candidate,” Davis said. “The only person that probably really felt that way was himself. But I knew he could play at the next level, and that’s why I knew he had to leave here to get the exposure.”
So Davis encouraged Jeanty to go back to the U.S. for his final three years of high school. And that’s what Jeanty did by enrolling at Lone Star High School in Frisco, Texas. Now he leads the nation with 1,376 yards in seven games for Boise State and is considered the top running back prospect for the NFL draft.
Naples’ closest competition is a 9-hour bus ride away
The one year of football that Jeanty played in Italy was unlike anything most American high school athletes experience.
Naples’ closest competition is nine hours away at a similar base in Vicenza in northern Italy. During Jeanty’s season, the team also played games in Germany, Belgium and Spain. The game in Germany required an 18-hour bus ride.
Current Naples quarterback Camden Kasparek was the ballboy when Jeanty played on the team.
“On those long bus trips, you do a lot of team bonding, a lot of cool opportunities, a lot of fun trips with the team,” Kasparek said, adding that Jeanty still keeps in touch with him via social media and follows the school’s results.
The Navy Support Site is a home away from home
Featuring a movie theater, a bowling alley and a supermarket stocked with American goods, the Navy base is like a home away from home for the kids who live there.
“We have Popeyes and Wendy’s and Subway, and they can buy American clothes and they can buy Skippy peanut butter and Halloween candies now and they’ll go trick or treating here shortly,” Davis said. “So, yeah, it’s very much like a little America.”
Naples plays some of its games inside a volcano
Because the Navy support site field doesn’t have lights, some of the team’s games are played at the Carney Park military recreational facility inside a dormant volcano in nearby Pozzuoli.
The rec site is linked to a relationship between the U.S. military community and Naples that dates back to World War II.
“It’s pretty neat,” Davis said. “You see the crater all around you.”
Michael Strahan and Shaquille O’Neal also went to military schools overseas
Growing up in a military family helped shape who Jeanty is.
“The sense of discipline, order. You work until the job (is) done, not just because the time is over,” Davis said. “He has that work ethic.”
Other athletes have followed Jeanty’s path before from overseas bases to the elite level like George Teague, Michael Strahan, Alejandro Villanueva — and Shaquille O’Neal in basketball.
Military life translates well to football.
“It’s all about teamwork, discipline and honoring the chain of command: not having to like the person next to you, but respecting them to get the mission complete,” Davis said.
Jeanty was already tough to tackle as a high school freshman
Davis often wakes up during the middle of the night now to watch Jeanty play. What he sees isn’t much different from what the coach witnessed first-hand six years ago.
“He wouldn’t go down on the first hit. He was explosive. You just felt like you’re always sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for him. You know, next touch might be a touchdown,” Davis said.
“Most of our games were high scoring, like 45-42, 38-35. We were just very fortunate most of those times that we had the ball last. So we were never out of it as long as we gave it to No. 2.”
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